


Writing Prompt #1

by pixelpiano



Series: Partial Drafts [2]
Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Friends to...something?, Hurt/Comfort, Idk it's hard to tag something with so little substance..., Non-Latin Characters in Text, Pining, Slow Burn, maybe? - Freeform, too gay to function
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-19
Updated: 2019-08-19
Packaged: 2020-09-07 17:53:59
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,686
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20313604
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/pixelpiano/pseuds/pixelpiano
Summary: Prompt: A barmaid works at a tavern and passes the market town on her way to work. Every day, she sees the same woman sitting at the same spot in the market, playing the same song on a lute. The woman doesn’t do it for money, or to attract attention, she just plays the one song over and over. One day, the barmaid decides to walk over and ask the woman about the song.





	1. Chapter 1

Alvina tied her white apron around her waist and tightened the knot in the bandana keeping her hair back. She grabbed a rag from the bin behind the counter, wet it under the tap, and set about wiping out the mugs and plates before evening service.

The first patron of the eve walked through the door, and she greeted them with her usual cheery smile. “Welcome to the Snoozing Dove! Can I get you something to fill your belly, or are you looking for somewhere to rest for the night?”

The customer, large and hairy like a bear, yet kind and polite as anything, sat at the bar and ordered his meal. He was an adventurer, Ogden Kensley, who had received a mysterious note from someone unknown, and was off to the location described to see what it was about. As more patrons flooded through the doors and sat down near him, Alvina overheard bits and pieces of his conversations with others. From what she could hear, Ogden spoke at length about his little boy, Eldon, who was already six years old, and one day hoped to be a dressmaker. Alvina swore she saw a tear of pride well up in Ogden’s eyes whenever he mentioned this, and as he finished up his meal and made to leave for the inn next door, Alvina told him she hoped his son would be able to achieve his dream someday.

He grinned from ear to ear and tossed her a few gold coins in return.

By now, the tavern was filled with patrons of all builds and adornments, as was typical for the evening in these parts. Alvina went about her duties, feeding her customers and listening to their stories when there was a lapse in orders, all while trying to keep herself from staring at a particularly rugged lady who sat towards the end of the bar, and had a habit of charming nearby patrons with a tousle of her hair and an ever so soothing voice, evidently hoping to score a free drink or two.

Finally, the evening began to come to a close, and all but a few quiet latecomers had since left. Alvina set about cleaning the remaining used dishes, when she heard a voice speak at the counter.

“’Scuze me, miss?”

Alvina turned and instinctively greeted the young lady, whose auburn hair hung in a messy braid over her shoulder.

“Welcome to the Snoozing Dove! The inn is next door, but I can offer you something to eat or drink before you tuck in?”

The lady shook her head, causing her braid to slip off her shoulder. “Nah, that’s not it, miss. I was just gonna ask if it was alright if I pulled out my lute for a bit?”

“Of course! Though I’m not sure you’ll get much out of tonight’s crowd though,” she added, gazing out at the near-empty tavern.

“Oh, no, I’m not lookin’ for gilt or grub or anything,” the woman said hurriedly. “Jus’ hoping to have somewhere to play is all…if that’s alright?”

Alvina raised an eyebrow. Usually the bards and minstrels who asked to perform did so to busk for money for meals. Even when they only managed to raise a couple coppers, Alvina had a habit of offering them some bread and a drink of their choice on the house for livening up the place.

“You sure I can’t offer you something?” Alvina asked.

The woman shook her head, and Alvina shrugged. “You can use the stage if you want,” she said, pointing towards the corner where a small raised platform sat.

“Thanks, miss, uhm…”

“Miss Sutton,” she replied, “but the regulars around here call me Alvina.”

The woman nodded and muttered another soft thanks, before striding over to a corner away from the stage. She stopped near one of the wooden chairs and began shuffling her things around.

With a shake of her head, Alvina set about doing the rest of the cleaning for the evening, sneaking a few glances at the suspicious girl in the corner to make sure she wasn’t up to no good.

Having sat down, the girl rested a beautifully decorated lute on her thigh, and was dutifully tuning it, leaning in close and closing her eyes intently as she plucked two strings at a time, adjusted one of the knobs, and repeated this several times.

Finally, while Alvina was turned away and rinsing off some dishes, the girl began to play. Alvina paused for a second and turned towards the girl. Her eyes were still closed, her mouth slightly agape as she swayed in time with her music. The sweet melody filled the medium-sized tavern hall like a comforting blanket, and the few late-stayers that remained turned their heads first towards the stage out of instinct, and then towards the girl strumming in the corner.

After a short time, the girl’s lips began to move, and she started singing. The words sounded like no language Alvina had ever heard, but they were soft and calming, like an autumn breeze blowing through a forest clearing…

“_Ʃtianiujʃ eʃ eñolåvà,  
Tiʃ giuku pi nabal shåvà._

_Putiråvå mu já pi kes,  
Ʒezulåvå soltu mu es…”_

Alvina simply stood, letting the girl’s soothing voice wash over her. It felt like hours before the girl stopped playing, looking somewhat sad, and packed up her things and left as suddenly as she had come.

The silence of the tavern walls felt empty as Alvina finished the last of her cleaning and walked home, and the girl’s lovely voice stuck in her head all through the night as she tried, in vain, to sleep.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning, Alvina woke up and set about her morning routine. The events of last night hung in the back of her mind, like a strange dream, but she thought little of it as she got dressed, splashed some water on her face, and walked down the cobblestone roads to the market square to acquire some food before she went into work that morning.

She bade a hearty ‘good morning’ to Hendrick, the lovely elderly fellow who baked the most delicious fruit scones and bought one with plum and blackberry in it, making small talk with him about his husband Wilfred. The two had been living happily together in a small house on the edge of town for years, and Wilfred, Hendrick told her, had just been offered a job as a cobbler’s assistant down the road from their house. She offered Hendrick her best wishes to Wilfred in his new job, then carried on her walk to work.

But as she continued through the centre of the bustling crowds, a familiar sound caught her attention, and she turned to see the lady from the previous night sitting on the edge of an overturned crate, playing her lute in the middle of the market square. No hat or box sat out in front of her to collect coin, and Alvina could barely even make out the sounds of her voice over the energy of the morning market business. Nonetheless, she recognized the song as the one the lady played the previous night in the almost empty tavern. She stayed and listened a short while, before realizing that she was standing in the middle of the road, blocking the foot traffic, and hurriedly rushed to work so as not to be late.

The woman didn’t come to the tavern that evening. Other lovely minstrels came and offered entertainment, and Alvina swore that the two rogue-ish ladies decked out with gaudy silver trinkets and dark cloaks had been eyeing her throughout the night, but they couldn’t match the simple charm of the lady and her lute. Alvina even waited a little while past closing, in case she happened to stop by late. But the auburn-haired bard never showed, and Alvina went home, somewhat disappointed.

And yet, come morning when Alvina waded through the market crowds again, there the girl was, sitting on the same overturned crate and strumming the very same song in the hustle and bustle of the morning market. Alvina considered saying something to her, but decided against it, and continued past her to work.

And this continued for several days. Each morning Alvina would walk by the lovely young bard on her way to work. She began waking up earlier than usual so that she could stand and listen to the woman sing for a while without risking being late. The woman always sang the same song she had sung in the tavern. At first Alvina figured she just always happened by the girl at that point in her song list, but after a while, she began to believe that this was the only song the woman ever played.

By the time a week or so had passed, Alvina even found herself able to hum along while the woman played and sang. And after a few weeks of this routine, Alvina found herself further able to sing along with some of the words, though she had no clue what they meant, nor did she think they sounded nearly as lovely on her own lips as they did the young bard’s.

And each day Alvina considered approaching the woman to talk to her, and each day she found herself unable to do so. Perhaps she didn’t want to bother her while she played, or perhaps she was worried the girl wouldn’t recognize her. Either way, Alvina made excuse after excuse, and continued to admire the lady and her one song from afar.

Until, that was, one day nearly three months later when Alvina walked into the Snoozing Dove and was met with horrible news. The tavern owner’s daughter had fallen violently ill, and in order to pay for her recovery, he would have to sell the tavern. The space was to be renovated into a new post office, and all the tavern workers would have to find work elsewhere.

Hanging her head, Alvina shuffled out of the bar and back down the market streets, a purse of coins jingling at her hip with the remainder of what would have been her pay for the month. Rather than return to the solace of her home, she sat down in the middle of the market square, hoping to lose her thoughts in the crowd.

Perhaps by coincidence, or perhaps intentionally, Alvina soon realized that she had sat not far from the woman she had been admiring. She played the same song as always, and the sound of the woman’s voice both soothed Alvina’s woes as well as caused tears to well up in the corners of her eyes.

As Alvina sat and wiped her eyes on the sleeve of her dress, she failed to notice that the woman had ceased singing, and now stood before her, leaning over slightly.

“’S…”scuze me.”

Alvina jumped in surprise and hurriedly rubbed at her eyes.

“…Miss Sutton, was it?” the woman asked her, smiling gently.

Alvina just nodded in response.

“Yer the barmaid at the Snoozing Dove, yeah?”

Alvina nodded, then shook her head hurriedly. “I was…we were just told today that it’s being closed down…”

The woman tutted and shook her head. “What a shame…” she lamented as she plopped down next to Alvina. “I suppose that’s why you’re lookin’ so down then?”

Alvina nodded again.

The two sat in comfortable silence for a moment, before the woman rested her lute on her thigh once again. “Do you mind?” she asked, “sometimes a good song’ll cheer you up.”

Alvina murmured an agreement, and so the woman began to strum and sing her song. Alvina closed her eyes, once again getting lost in the foreign words and the woman’s lovely voice.

When the song came to a close, the girl paused to retune a string. Alvina took a deep breath and before she could think twice, blurted out “I really like your voice!”

The girl looked at her and chuckled. “Thanks miss; had it all my life!” she responded cheekily.

Alvina shook her head and blushed. “That’s…I mean…” she stammered, “your singing is quite lovely…it always seems to cheer me up!”

The woman raised an eyebrow and looked at Alvina. “Always?” she asked.

Alvina tried to say something to excuse her slip, but nothing coherent came out. The woman continued to look at her somewhat skeptically until Alvina finally spit out an embarrassed “sorry” as she got up and walked quickly away, trying to hide her burning face.

The girl with her lute simply chuckled, and went back to playing and singing.


	3. Chapter 3

It was another week before Alvina returned to the market square again. And when she did, she carefully avoided the usual path that she took. She told herself it was because she wanted to explore other corners of the market, now that she no longer needed to go to work afterwards.

She ambled through row after row of stalls, picking out groceries for the week and placing them carefully in the basket she held at her side. By the time she finished her shopping, the sun already sat high overhead, and she decided to risk walking back home along her normal path.

Much to Alvina’s dismay, as she turned the corner, there sat the bard woman, playing her song. And not only that, but the moment she caught a glimpse of her, the woman happened to look in her direction, locking eyes with Alvina.

Alvina froze. There was no way she could avoid the woman now that she had seen her.

She sheepishly walked over to the woman, who met her arrival with a cheeky grin.

“It’s been a while since I’ve seen ya around here. Thought maybe you’d up and left after the tavern let you go.”

Alvina blushed. “I…No, it’s not that…” she muttered.

“I wanted to apologize for the other day,” the woman said, much to Alvina’s surprise. “I thought maybe I scared you off, coming up to a stranger and gettin’ all up in your business and such…”

Alvina shook her head emphatically. “No, I…that absolutely wasn’t the case!” she managed to say.

The woman raised an eyebrow at her. “You sure?” she asked.

Alvina nodded, “Of course.”

The girl sighed in relief. “Well, good. Glad to hear it.”

Alvina nodded. Then she suddenly remembered the basket of groceries at her side. “Oh,” she said, “I should probably get home with these.”

The woman nodded. “Probably.”

Alvina nodded but continued to stand there somewhat awkwardly. Then, with a final “welp,” she turned and began to leave.

“Hey,” the bard called to her as Alvina began to walk away.

Alvina stopped and turned towards her.

“Next time you’re at the square…feel free to come say hi,” the woman told her.

“Oh, uhm…yeah!” Alvina replied, her cheeks growing pink.

The woman bade her farewell with a friendly wave as she went back to plucking the strings on her lute.

Alvina smiled the whole way home.


	4. Chapter 4

While Alvina came to the market far less frequently now, she came every week or so to say hi to her old friends, as well as the mysterious bard that had caught her attention. It took Alvina another couple visits to finally muster up the courage to ask the woman’s name. “Hazel,” she replied with a soft smile, “cause my hair always looked like a hazelnut shrub.”

“It is a very lovely colour,” Alvina agreed, smiling shyly in return.

Hazel laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, yes, that part is just a coincidence. My hair sticks out every which way like the branches and leaves of a hazel shrub. When I was a kid, it was its worst, but now I keep it braided to avoid that.”

Alvina nodded, her cheeks flushing again.

It was many more weeks of casual chatting at the market before Alvina worked up the nerves to ask Hazel another probing question.

“Forgive my rudeness,” she asked, her gaze falling down towards Hazel’s lute, “but…whyever do you only seem to sing that one song?”

_To be continued...?_


End file.
